2009 ARRL International DX Contest (Phone)

KH6/AC0W -- Jul 21, 2009 00:14 ET

My first experience being the DX. Had a great time just wish there was more east-west propagation instead of north-south. But can't complain, made plenty of Q's.

Including a few pictures, one of me at the rig, one of the antennas, and the last of the view toward the US. As you see had some difficulty with mountains. Southeast US was blocked pretty good. So for those who thought I had a pretty weak signal, now you see part of the reason. Of course the other part is the power at only 100 watts and the antennas were not up that high.

Had a nice clear view to most other parts of the world. Central and South America were booming into KH6, creating some QRM with stateside station. Biggest challenge was VK and JA stations wanting to work me, even when they were off the back and side of the beam.

Probably the biggest challenge or error in planning was not taking into account the 4 hour time zone difference. I figure I could do my normal thing of going QRT about 4 AM local time. However, about midnight local I battled to stay awake, which turns out is 4 AM back in Minnesota. So this resulted in some lost operating time and lost low band QSO's. Something to remember for next time.

Good experience and I am planning to do it again in the 2010/2011 contest season. Just need to decide where.

Thanks for all the contacts that weekend. Now just got to get the QSL cards out.

73 Bill AC0W -- AC0W

AC0W at rig at KH6/AC0W on Maui	Antennas at KH6/AC0W
View to US from KH6/AC0W on Maui

P40A -- Apr 29, 2009 16:42 ET

AE6Y / P49Y and KK9A / P40A having lunch before the contest.

I brought a new computer with me for this contest after having intermittent graphics problems with my station computer during my last visit to Aruba. It turned out that the problem was not with the computer at all, but the monitor so I purchased a new one at a local computer shop. The system worked fine during the week, but unfortunately ½ hour before the contest started, the computer went completely dead. I quickly replaced it with my old station computer and had it running only 5 minutes before the contest began. I started on 20m, but the band closed after making only 149 contacts. Luckily, 40m was in great shape and I also had pretty good success on 80m and 160m keeping me busy all night long. On Saturday morning conditions on 20m were excellent, however the band was quite crowded as it was the only one open. I little later in the morning 15m opened, but the band was only opened to certain areas of the US at a time. Even with the spotty openings this band produced the fasted rates of the contest peaking at 309 contacts per hour. Throughout the first day I keep a close eye on 10m and never heard an opening into the US. During the second evening, the low band conditions were a little noisier making it difficult to add new 80m and 160m multipliers. 40m was still very good during the second night and I spend most of my time here. I also took a food and nap break when the rates were slow. On Sunday 20m was open strong all day. Propagation on 15m was still spotty, but it was very usable and it had much less QRM than 20m did. I kept a watchful eye on 10m again and with 2 ½ hours left in the contest I still had not heard an opening. Then magically 10m opened to a few areas of the US. I switched bands and worked a few stations in Texas and Oklahoma. I continued working more stations in the southwest and was very surprised when W3LPL in Maryland called me. Apparently propagation toward other areas of the U.S. was improving. Shortly later stations from other areas of the US called me and working every new multiplier this late in a contest was very exciting. For a brief 15 minute period, the band was wide open and I was able to work stations at a 300/ hour pace. The 10m opening only lasted about 1 ½ hours but it was very exciting. I worked 32 stations on all six bands. Other than the initial computer problem the station performed perfectly and this contest was very fun. I would like to thank everyone for the QSOs . Please QSL via WD9DZV. I have a contract to sell my home in Aruba and I thought that this would be my last contest from the station, however the new owners generously agreed to let me keep the antennas up and continue to use the station for a while longer. I look forward to many more Aruba vacations and contests.

73, John P40A john@p40a.com -- KK9A

TI5N -- Apr 12, 2009 21:15 ET

Keko Ti5KD and Robert W5AJ

Keko Ti5Kd working on the 20 meter driven element before the contest

Was a great visit to Keko's place in Costa Rica. Ran the multi's as hard as possible. Running up the multis has been problem with noise of the city. Keko said it was highest ARRL SSB multi count ever from his station. Had a difficult time with rates this year. Ten produced a great opening late in the game pushing the multi total right up there.

Thanks for great ARRL DX SSB weekend.

73 Robert -- W5AJ

CT2GSN -- Mar 30, 2009 19:15 ET

I enjoy contesting becouse this way I can test my radio and dipoles. It is also a good way to test my physical resistence and my ability to operate pile-up. this is definetely the kind of contesting I enjoy most. Thak you for you well done job. Congratulation for organizing this event. thank you to all US ham radio for this conteste.

My activiti on radio: http://www.youtube.com/user/ct2gsn

-- CT2GSN

GM3PPG -- Mar 20, 2009 21:34 ET

I operated 80m single band SSB again from the island of North Uist, Outer Hebrides. Set up a 6 el. vertical phased array next to the Atlantic again, but operated from an old croft house this year rather than /P. No faults with either rig or antenna - wind speeds a lot lower than last year. Prop. condx. excellent on the first night with many good strength West Coast signals and low noise levels. The band stayed open for me till 0830z but I could hear CU2X continuing for another 2 hours. The West coast signals I could hear at this time were about S1-2 at my quiet Northerly location, but unworkable. The highlight of the first night was working VE8EV in NWT. Condx. for me were a lot worse the second night with more absorbtion, and a noisier band, but still a few West Coast signals. Band stayed open on this morning till 0730z. Very pleased to end up with 22 Californian qso's, but missed out on MT, UT, ID, NV, VO2, VE5, VY0, and VY1. Thanks to K3VOA for the only DC qso. and AC7NO for WY. Heard and worked more VE4 than ever before.

The 6 el vertical array has a better high angle F/B than a conventional 4 square, but a significantly narrower main azimuth lobe, albeit 2dB more gain on boresight. This may have contributed to it being unable sometimes to keep the freq. clear of Central/South American stations and Caribbean stations from encroaching. Maybe next year I need a separate rx antenna.

Looks like paths to the West coast did not extend into North-Eastern Europe from comments from Jurek - SP3GEM.

Difficult to imagine how to compete with the tremendous station and score from Martii at CU2X - which is also in Europe - but great fun nonetheless. Thanks to all the callers - old well known calls as well as new ones to me - and hope to see you all again next year. I used SD logging and thank Paul EI5DI, for providing this prog. free. 73, Rick (GM3PPG).

Rig : FT990 with Acom amp

Ant. : 6 el. driven phased vertical array : 6 elements in a half wavelength square with binomial current distribution, LC phasing network, 3/4 wave current forcing lines, 50m from Atlantic. 32 quarter wave radials on ground, untuned for each vert. Each vert. is 20m tall. -- G4BYB

3 elements on one side of the 6 square for 80m	the whole 6 square for 80m
a more comfortable op position than /P in the car as last year!

FP/KV1J -- Mar 18, 2009 13:25 ET

Operating from the French island of Miquelon, off the southeast coast of Newfoundland. Tough time of the year to go there! Had delays in both air and sea travel due to storms and sprained my ankle when I slipped on the ice while traveling.

Antennas were simple to erect with the high winds and frozen ground. Used a SteppIR BigIR Vertical for 40M – 10M, Off-Centered Dipole for 80M, and an Inverted-L for 160M.

Rig was an IC-7000, Ameritron ALS-500M amplifier (500W), and MFJ-994 tuner.

Band conditions were a challenge. Each morning through mid afternoon, all I could hear were European stations and very few US/Canada. Things got better after that and managed to get some runs going. Getting spotted yielded some good pileups. Just wish more could find me without the spots. Had a nice 15M opening Sunday to the Southeast US. It was a nice break to work stations without all the QRM!! Nothing was heard on 10M.

Had great support locally. Jean-Pierre FP5CJ is a good friend and helped me while on the island of St. Pierre. Patricia and Erik of the Motel de Miquelon (aka Maxotel) took good care of me and feed me very well! Also, the folks on Miquelon were very supportive. I had one of the amplifier power supplies die. The next morning I had a car battery and cables delivered to my room and was back in business.

Was a lot of fun and thanks for all the support and patience pulling my signal out of the crowded bands.

73, Eric FP/KV1J -- KV1J

Station with an ocean view	160 M Inverted-L
SteppIR Vertical for 40M - 10M

GW7X -- Mar 14, 2009 13:26 ET

All smiles AFTER the PSU repair

The planned single-band 40M operation here *almost* didn't happen!

Just hours before the start of the contest the PSU failed in the main station computer - fortunaetly this was around 14:00 (2pm local time) and I was able to get a repair, if it had been at 23:00 the outcome may have been a lot different!

All worked fine in the contest and I thank everyone for the contacts - all 1,662 of them, although there were a number of dupes and final total was 1,584. This, I believe, sets a new European record on contacts for 40 meters but is just short of beating the overall contest score.

QSL Manager for all GW7X activities is GW3SQX.

73

Steve GW4BLE -- GW4BLE

PJ7B -- Mar 13, 2009 18:32 ET

Contest station of PJ7B in condo room

Have been doing this contest from St. Maarten for over 10 years. Very little activity on 15 and 10 meters this year. For one of the first times there was another PJ7 on the air in the contest so that really cut down the qso's on 20 meters. Did have some fun on 40 meters with a short run at the end of the contest on Sunday.

I am using the IC-7000 rig with the LDG AT-7000 tuner into a 124 ft long wire running up the outside of the 10 story condo building, I have about 250 ft of mini 8 coax that has to suck up a lot of rf. Generally the shack table is an ironing board but this year it was a small table.

But even with the bad conditions still had a lot of fun. -- W8EB

YW5W -- Mar 11, 2009 19:00 ET

This ARRL Contest was very unusual for me, because this things:

My first contest with my brand-new special callsign. My first Phone contest from 2 years ago (when I was active in ARRL's contest from 2001 to 2006). My first ARRL contest on 40m SOSB ever.

Like all times, the USA pile-ups are the best.

My claimed score is:

QSOs: 1297 (with dupes)

Mults: 58 (missed only ND from USA; LB, NT, YT and NU from CANADA)

op time: 26h, 12min

Score: 222,546 points

Equipment:

TX: ICOM-775DSP

ANTENNA: 3 ELE MONOBAND YAGI @ 18m (around 60ft)

AMP: ICOM IC-4KL

SOFTWARE: Win-Test ver. 3.25.1

QTH: 4M5DX Station http://www.4m5dx.info

Tnx in advance, see you at next one! -- YV5TX

EI4CF/P -- Mar 11, 2009 15:17 ET

I used the same set up as that of the 2009 CW Arrl test. However, I found I could not hold a frequency for very long and had very few good runs. The 2 el quad behaved well, and the Icom 7800 performed wihout a fault. The quad was again beside the sea at Fanore in county Clare, overlooking Galway Bay and the Aran islands. Wx was very stormy, and I packed things in early on Sunday evening when thunder and lightning appeared. I managed to improve on my score of last year, but I will have to improve my frequency holding skills!! -- EI4CF

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